Two shots at the Bay and a great gift from my very best friend!

[Humppa]

Hi guys!

I was the first time I was active at fleabay and got two knives. I just wanted to share what I got so far.

An Imperial Barlow, which is stamped "Imperial, Ireland" - a pretty unique find here in Germany. I just had to get it! It was rust and in a bad condition, but I gave him some spa-treatment and removed the rust on the blades and inside the liners. I just need to put on a new edge and it´s ready for some more years of duty!

The other one is all-steel Robert Klaas, Solingen penknife with a corkscrew. It´s pretty knife and came in an excellent condition. It opens and closes like a little beartrap. Everything is close to perfect on that little bugger.

The King of the whole bunch is that old J. A. Henckells, Solingen knife. I think it´s called a Shadow Pattern, but I´m not sure. My very best friend got it for me as a present for Christmas. Well, the blades are sharpened down, but i has bladeplay and still a mighty snap. I just need to add an edge and the knife is fine again. Ok, some oil do never harm anything. The guy who giftet me that said, he knows how much I like those old things, especially knives...

Here are the pics...

The pics were taken inside my workshop early this morning, the weather outside is horrible for making detailed pics of stamps and such. So please excuse the bad light on some of the pics ... I´ve done my best :disillusionment:

 

[Jack Black]

Thanks for the pics Andi, three interesting knives, that stag looks fantastic :thumbup:

 

[uchinanchukg]

Great pics Andi.
I agree with Jack that stag does look great.

KG

 

[Humppa]

Thanks for kind words, fellows

I like each of them - but the J.A. Henckells has is a great piece of craftmanship!

The Barlow still needs some attention. There´s still rust inside the liners and the tang gets rustred of oil when opening... maybe an ultrasoundbath will help a little. I´ll see what to do.

Have a nice sunday, everyone!

 

[Jack Black]

It still tickles me how many German knives have corkscrews when Germany, (while producing some nice wine), is world famous for it's BEER, and for it's beer-drinking!

 

[Stich2442]

Jack you just brought back a fond memory of a dish I use to make when I was a Chef, Poulet Véronique, made with a Alsatian Gewürztraminer wine. ( Andi did I spell it correct?) anyway enough reminiscing, nice knives Andi congrats, and nice of your friend to think of you.

Pete

 

[Humppa]

It still tickles me how many German knives have corkscrews when Germany, (while producing some nice wine), is world famous for it's BEER, and for it's beer-drinking!

This is my opinion, when I see the knives in any ways... Though I don´t drink wine and have no use for the corkscrew - they are nice and well fitted onto the knives.

Jack you just brought back a fond memory of a dish I use to make when I was a Chef, Poulet Véronique, made with a Alsatian Gewürztraminer wine. ( Andi did I spell it correct?) anyway enough reminiscing, nice knives Andi congrats, and nice of your friend to think of you.

Pete

Pete - Yes you spelled it alright though I never drank a Gewürztraminer by my own. He´s a great guy giving away such a knife. I gave him a brandnew Buck Vantage 345 for his birthday as well ... he´s more a modern knife guy and not so much with the traditional stuff. Giving away knives to each other is a almost a tradition between him and me...

 

[kamagong]

That Henckels is a lovely knife. Very nice gesture on your friend's part.

- Christian

 

[jackknife]

You're right, Andi, that Henkel's is the king of the bunch.:thumbup:

From the looks of the well worn and much sharpened blades, it was somebody's daily companion for many, many years. carried and used. From the slight wear induced bend on the corkscrew, he liked his wine too! It is indeed called a shadow pattern, and the stag is greg stuff. Outstanding bark and character on it. I don't know why, but Germans, and the old time Sheffield English knife makers always had the best stag handles. You guys know how to treat the stuff. American cutlers just don't have the touch, and polish off too much of the bark, or leave it too thick, or uneven. And stag looks and works sooooo well in a shadow pattern pocket knife. Yes, that knife needs to be sharpened up and put in use, but gently as befitting a dignified old gentleman. A desk knife for opening mail, triming a piece of tape, gentle use but still in the game. Maybe even open a bottle of nice chilled Rhine wine for you and the Mrs.

Carl.

 

[jackknife]

It still tickles me how many German knives have corkscrews when Germany, (while producing some nice wine), is world famous for it's BEER, and for it's beer-drinking!

Oh no Jack, Germany make some great wine. Really great light white and Rhine wines that go down very well. I can't remember the name of it, but when I was there I drank a light Rhine that had a black cat on the label, andwas great for picnics and such. Look at how many old Bruckman's and Weidmanshields and even Puma's had a corkscrew. The German's make some very good wines. :thumbup:

I'm not a real wine drinker, and can't stand red wine, but I like a light white, and those from the Rhine valley area are the only wine that can lure me away from beer or whiskey.

Carl.

 

[Gevonovich]

That stag is beautiful on that J. A. Henckells. What a nice gift from youe friend. He was really keen on what you may like for Christmas. Have a wonderful Christmas, Andy, and stay warm.

 

[Jack Black]

Jack you just brought back a fond memory of a dish I use to make when I was a Chef, Poulet Véronique, made with a Alsatian Gewürztraminer wine. ( Andi did I spell it correct?) anyway enough reminiscing, nice knives Andi congrats, and nice of your friend to think of you.

Pete

Yes, that is quite a unique wine Pete, as indeeed are the wines of Alsace generally. I like to drink them with spicy food, because the wine matches them well. I'm rather embarrased to say, and really if you knew me you would never think of it, I worked as a lecturer on fine wines 20 or so years ago! My friends laugh at me a lot about it

You're right, Andi, that Henkel's is the king of the bunch.:thumbup:

From the looks of the well worn and much sharpened blades, it was somebody's daily companion for many, many years. carried and used. From the slight wear induced bend on the corkscrew, he liked his wine too! It is indeed called a shadow pattern, and the stag is greg stuff. Outstanding bark and character on it. I don't know why, but Germans, and the old time Sheffield English knife makers always had the best stag handles. You guys know how to treat the stuff. American cutlers just don't have the touch, and polish off too much of the bark, or leave it too thick, or uneven. And stag looks and works sooooo well in a shadow pattern pocket knife. Yes, that knife needs to be sharpened up and put in use, but gently as befitting a dignified old gentleman. A desk knife for opening mail, triming a piece of tape, gentle use but still in the game. Maybe even open a bottle of nice chilled Rhine wine for you and the Mrs.

Carl.

I also have a bent corkscrew on my Mauser Officers Knife! I'm interested about the shadow pattern Carl, among Sheffield cutlers it traditionally just means a knife without bolsters, is there more to it than that?

 

[pertinux]

A grand selection, Andi.

I'm happy for you.


~ P.

 

[Humppa]

Thanks for the kind words, fellas!

The stag on that Henckells is the looker, imo. It just feels great in hand. I think tomorrow in the morning, I gonna add a new edge on that beauty, clean it and put it into my rotation. You´re right, Carl - it should just be used for light duty and no more a working horse as it has been since now. Though the prevous owner hasn´t abused it, but carried it for a long time.
The german and english stag is great, for sure. What GEC does nowadays also looks great in my eyes, though I have never handled such a knife, until now. Maybe someday... The stag I´ve seen made by Case isn´t beer at all - looks a little strange, but ok. That´s just personal taste!

I can´t help you with wine in any way. I grew up on the bavarian/austrian border and the austrian guys I know don´t drink too much wine, they prefer their applewine (called Most) or beer. The very most Bavarians I know prefer their wheat-beer (Weissbier) before wine or the regular beer. When I drink a bottle of wine during one year, it´s a lot of wine for me... But it´s good to know, that german wine has a good reputation all around the world.

I wish you and your families a Merry Christmas a Happy New Year 2013. A big Thank You (!!) for the passing year 2012! What a great forum and much greater members and real gentlemen in this place!

 

[Jack Black]

Oh no Jack, Germany make some great wine. Really great light white and Rhine wines that go down very well. I can't remember the name of it, but when I was there I drank a light Rhine that had a black cat on the label, andwas great for picnics and such. Look at how many old Bruckman's and Weidmanshields and even Puma's had a corkscrew. The German's make some very good wines. :thumbup:

I'm not a real wine drinker, and can't stand red wine, but I like a light white, and those from the Rhine valley area are the only wine that can lure me away from beer or whiskey.

Carl.

I don't know that one Carl I'm afraid. There are a few German wines I like a lot, and which are unique, and very interesting, eiswein I like (though now it's widely copied - in a good way) and many more. For me though, there are other areas of the world which produce better wines (I DO like red wines), wheras the German beers are really world class. Despite my comments about the corkscrew, it's actually a feature I personally find very useful! There was a time that I drank far more wine than beer, but now (while I still enjoy a lot of wine), I'm generally back with the beer! Hope this doesn''t make me sound like a complete lush!

Jack

 

[jackknife]

Yes, that is quite a unique wine Pete, as indeeed are the wines of Alsace generally. I like to drink them with spicy food, because the wine matches them well. I'm rather embarrased to say, and really if you knew me you would never think of it, I worked as a lecturer on fine wines 20 or so years ago! My friends laugh at me a lot about it



I also have a bent corkscrew on my Mauser Officers Knife! I'm interested about the shadow pattern Carl, among Sheffield cutlers it traditionally just means a knife without bolsters, is there more to it than that?

The kknives made without bolsters that a lot of folks call a shadow pattern, seen to run to either extreme. They seem to be either the gentleman lobster pen as made in the heyday of Sheffield for the gentry, with exquisite pearl scales and all kinds of tools for everyday life like button hooks, pipe stem reamers, and nail files. Then there's the other opposite end of the spectrum where they are the work knives. The knives made with low cost in mind, but rugged construction. Old line European knives like the sodbuster with roots in Germany and eastern Europe where they were called a folding butcher knife. Usually with wood scales, but plastic type material creeped in during the 20th century.

For some odd reason, some shadow patterns seem to be stronger that knives with bolsters. I can't recall exactly where, here on this forum I think, I saw some photo's with a blade in a shadow pattern handle locked in a vise, and being bent. The blade of the sodbuster kind of thing broke before the joint and pivot let go. With the broken blade still in place, the pivot was still snug. I'm trying to get through the cobwebs in my brain to remember where I saw that. I had asked a question here on this forum a few years back, about the strength of the shadow, and someone said it was actually stronger. I do know, that I've seen Case sodbusters horribly abused and keep on trucking. And smiling-knife has posted some beautiful old Sheffield knives from the 1800's that you can see they were used, but the knives were still in good shape. These were a lot of shadow pattern lobster pens with very fine pearl scales.

Or perhaps like Andi's great old Henkel's knife, they were light duty and used by white collar gentry, so they survived longer being used lightly and carried in a vest pocket rather than in a work overalls or shop apron.

Carl.

 

[Modoc ED]

Great pictures Andi. I really like that Barlow. Those Imperial knives were good knives - just as good as anything coming off the line today.

 

[Jack Black]

The kknives made without bolsters that a lot of folks call a shadow pattern, seen to run to either extreme. They seem to be either the gentleman lobster pen as made in the heyday of Sheffield for the gentry, with exquisite pearl scales and all kinds of tools for everyday life like button hooks, pipe stem reamers, and nail files. Then there's the other opposite end of the spectrum where they are the work knives. The knives made with low cost in mind, but rugged construction. Old line European knives like the sodbuster with roots in Germany and eastern Europe where they were called a folding butcher knife. Usually with wood scales, but plastic type material creeped in during the 20th century.

For some odd reason, some shadow patterns seem to be stronger that knives with bolsters. I can't recall exactly where, here on this forum I think, I saw some photo's with a blade in a shadow pattern handle locked in a vise, and being bent. The blade of the sodbuster kind of thing broke before the joint and pivot let go. With the broken blade still in place, the pivot was still snug. I'm trying to get through the cobwebs in my brain to remember where I saw that. I had asked a question here on this forum a few years back, about the strength of the shadow, and someone said it was actually stronger. I do know, that I've seen Case sodbusters horribly abused and keep on trucking. And smiling-knife has posted some beautiful old Sheffield knives from the 1800's that you can see they were used, but the knives were still in good shape. These were a lot of shadow pattern lobster pens with very fine pearl scales.

Or perhaps like Andi's great old Henkel's knife, they were light duty and used by white collar gentry, so they survived longer being used lightly and carried in a vest pocket rather than in a work overalls or shop apron.

Carl.

That's a good point about the shadow patterns running to either extreme Carl, it's strange isn't it, I'd not really thought of that before? This is a photo of my old Jack Black Knives U1 in a vice, not a folder, but a shadow pattern, and certainly a very strong working knife